“How much do you know about that?” Hoyo asked.
“Enough to know that you don’t want me to expose you, so speak, why do you have the liver of a Harpy grafted onto you?” Ludwig asked back.
Hoyo opened and closed his mouth then said, “My family… is a fallen noble family,” he said.
Ludwig waited for Hoyo to finish speaking since he seemed to have had a lot on his mind.
He sighed a bit and then said, “My father and Uncle are sons of a Duke of Letonia, a kingdom on the northern part of the Lufondal Empire. My grandfather died before assigning a proper heir, and that caused strife between the two of them. But thanks to my father’s superior military achievements and prowess, not to mention him reaching the level of Aura Swordmaster, he managed to take control over the duchy. He didn’t kill my uncle for failing the succession war, and allowed him to live as a Marquis with land and forces…”
Ludwig nodded as he was listening in on the story.
“But, greed is a nasty thing,” Hoyo said. “My uncle who didn’t accept the fact that he was demoted to a mere marquis was enraged and began dabbling in darker arts. And this is one of them,” Hoyo said as he pulled up his shirt.
Several massive sewed scars were visible all over Hoyo’s body.
“It wasn’t just the liver of a Harpy, there were much more parts that shouldn’t have been mine to begin with, though I managed to ‘extract’ them, and replace them with human parts, I still can’t remove the harpy liver. Since it’s essential to my survival,” Hoyo said. “It cleanses blood and removes all sorts of poison and lowers the risk of diseases and infections from the multiple grafting sessions that happened to me.”
“So you were captured and tortured?” Ludwig said plainly.
There was hesitation in Hoyo’s words before he said, “Y-yea something like that…”
“Then how come your family fell? If your uncle was the one who did all of this, shouldn’t it be the other way around? Or did the king simply axe both the Duchy and the March?”
-March or Marquessate is what you call the territory of a marquis we’ll be going with March for now-
“That’s the thing,” Hoyo said, “The people who did the experiment on me were the people who belonged to our Duchy, they were bribed by my uncle and I was experimented on along with several hundred others inside my father’s territory. My uncle then sent word to the King that we, the Duchy, were dabbling in black magic and forbidden arts, and then initiated the attack on the Duchy.”
Ludwig frowned, “I can see how things would turn that way, but you said that you initiated the attack… for a March to attack a duchy, you need significant power, I doubt that the Duke just simply let them in.”
“Yeah, under different scenarios, my father could have easily thwarted the attack of my uncle and found enough evidence to clear his name, but there was a problem that prevented that…”
“And that is?” Ludwig asked.
“The land we lived on was meant to be neutral ground—a shared territory between Letonia and the Holy Order,” Hoyo began, his voice trembling as if the very air around him grew colder with each word. “Letonia… though it has a king, he’s nothing but a puppet. In reality it is a kingdom ruled by zealots, driven by their so-called Holy Order. Rich beyond imagination. Powerful. And merciless. Anything they deem Dark or Demonic, they don’t just hate—they eradicate. But none of that compares to him.”
Hoyo’s breath hitched, his eyes glassy with fear, his words faltering as though recalling the memory physically hurt. “It wasn’t a war. It wasn’t a battle. It wasn’t even a struggle. It was annihilation. Total, horrifying annihilation. And it took him—” Hoyo’s voice cracked, “—less than an hour.”
Ludwig’s frown deepened, his curiosity beginning to feel like a mistake.
“An hour,” Hoyo whispered. “That’s all it took for our territory to collapse into dust and screams. He wasn’t even trying. He walked in, yawning like he was bored, like it was a chore. He couldn’t have been more than ten—a child, by any measure. And yet…” He choked, unable to meet Ludwig’s gaze. “He killed every last one of us. Soldiers, knights, warriors—my people died like insects crushed underfoot. No mercy. No hesitation.”
Hoyo’s hand trembled as he gestured vaguely toward the past. “And my father… my father didn’t even have time to beg. That boy… that thing… looked him in the eye and simply pointed at him, my father burnt in hellish flames in an instant, for him it felt like swatting a fly… my father who is an Aura Swordmaster wasn’t even worth the effort for that thing. No words. No reason. Just… nothing.”
Ludwig’s blood ran cold… if he had any that is.
“They call him the Holy Saint,” Hoyo spat, his voice tinged with hatred but trembling with unshakable dread. “But there’s nothing holy about him. He’s a demon in human skin. A sadistic, unfeeling monster. Mot the Deliverer… the name still makes my skin crawl.” He shuddered violently, clutching at his arms as though to hold himself together. “You don’t talk about him. You don’t even think about him if you value your sanity.”
Ludwig thought about this for a second and said, “Seems like you had it rough, but what I don’t understand is, how did you manage to escape?”
“Yeah, about that…” Hoyo said, “It was because I fell unconscious…”
“Huh?” Ludwig’s expression was anything but understanding.
“Yeah… apparently, the kid, or that thing considers all who are asleep, or unconscious as dead…”
“Basically, a bear?” Ludwig tilted his head.
“That’s a criminally severe understatement, but something along the lines of that. I was captured by the Holy Order forces, and when presented to him in my unconscious state, they decided to simply let me go… apparently it was his order…”
“What happened with your uncle then?” Ludwig asked.
“What else? Since he was the one who ‘revealed’ us as sinners, he was rewarded, and with his brother dead, the Duchy was vacant so he simply took over.”
“And your goal I can assume is to reclaim what was once yours?”
“Hah, you say funny things Ludwig. I’m not insane, I know my limits. And I can’t go against my uncle, after all, though he isn’t a sword user, he’s a Seventh Circle Mage… though most of it is Grafted stolen goods…”
“Wait, he grafted a circle?” Ludwig asked.
“Yes, he managed to steal the Heart of Seventh Circle Mage and Graft it onto his body. That’s why he’s impossible for me to ever beat…”
He then looked at Ludwig and smiled, “You think I’m a coward don’t you?”
“Not really,” Ludwig shook his head, “There is a thin line between courage and stupidity, and not wanting to die is everything but stupidity.”
Hoyo smiled saying, “I guess you’re right… I had a really hard time dealing with Thomas to be honest,” he said.
“I can guess why,” Ludwig said.
“You do?”
“You don’t want to expose yourself, though I doubt your identity is fully hidden,” Ludwig added.
“Yes, a few teachers already know of me, but the Dark Academy is unrelated to the Holy Order. Though it is part of the Lufondal Empire, the Holy Order can’t just simply ask for my head…”
“I suppose. There are powerful teachers here after all,” Ludwig shrugged.
“Speaking of Powerful Teachers, tomorrow is the last day before the exams. We’ll have our final practice session… though it’s going to be the first and last one for your,” he said.
“What practice?” Ludwig asked.
“Magic Combat… you didn’t know?” Hoyo asked.
“Ah… I forgot about that… I can’t use any offensive magic though?” Ludwig said.
Hoyo frowned, “How come? You already used [Exhaust]”
“Yeah, that’s basically all I know…” that and the Undeath Sigil, but he wasn’t going to talk about that to Hoyo. After all, Necromancy is forbidden.
“That’s going to be tough for you then… I’d recommend that you give up on tomorrow’s practice then… a lot of people will be aiming for you,” he said.
Ludwig thought about it and saw that it was pretty late into the night. He doesn’t have time to learn anything that can serve him any good anytime soon. Nor can he go all the way back to Van Dijk…
[The Captured Soul Thomas Vondel is requesting your attention]